Timeline Refresh
At the square, soldiers stood under a banner that read: "We passionately celebrate the historic national event that is the success of the first hydrogen bomb test."
"I completely endorse the move by the Mumbai Police to reduce the security around me. The police personnel can be put to better use in securing the city. If and when the Mumbai Police feel the need to increase my security, they will. I trust them completely," he tweeted.
Earlier in the day, the Mumbai Police has decided to downgrade the security cover of 40 celebrities including that of actors Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan.
Mumbai police, after its annual assessment on threat cover, had decided on this. Sources say, the security cover of Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Raj Kumar Hirani, Farah Khan, Karim Morani and few others have been withdrawn completely. Those 15 personalities who would be getting the security cover includes Akshay Kumar, Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt, Amitabh Bachchan, Dilip Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar.
"Ranjeet Singh and his wife Maya petitioned us yesterday (seeking permission to meet her) saying Geeta was their daughter who got lost when they were travelling 27 years ago," a senior district official said.
The application was being examined before being sent to the Centre which will decide whether to allow the Bhopal-based couple to meet Geeta, he added.
As she came under attack for her remarks, Sule on Friday claimed that she was misquoted.
At an event organised by the Nashik-based Fravashi International Academy on Thursday, Sule had said that people think that MPs are discussing important affairs but it may not be the case always when debates are repetitive.
"When I go to Parliament, I hear the first speech, the second speech and third speech. Till the fourth speech, the one who is speaking is saying the same things the earlier speakers have said,' she said.
"If you ask me what was said, after the fourth speech, I am unable to do so. We speak to some other MP. While chatting with the MPs, everyone is watching, the TV above is watching. People think the MPs are discussing (affairs of) the country,' she said.
"If I am speaking to the MP from Chennai, you will say: Oh God, I may be discussing the heavy rains in Chennai. We don't indulge in any such discussion. We discuss things like: from where did you buy your saree and from where did I get mine,' said Sule, who is friends with DMK leader Kanimozhi.
Addressing the students at the event, she said, "You students sometimes get bored after sitting through lectures and then start talking about actress Deepika Padukone and her looks in 'Bajirao Mastani'."
Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe said Sule's remarks were irresponsible.
"There is plenty of work while Parliament session is on. To make such comments demeans the sincere women legislators and MPs who have struggled to become House members," she said.
Speaking on the issue of women's reservation, Sule said, "All the male members in Parliament tease me that if an additional 50 per cent reservation is given to women, then debates in Parliament will be only about sarees, facials and parlours.
"I have told them many times that you are the ones who make comments on sarees and have not done much welfare for the country. So it should not be a problem to given the proposal a chance," Sule said.
NIA has also sent footprints picked up from the Indo-Pak border and the Pathankot air base to the Chandigarh lab for forensic tests.
While Salwinder had said he was a frequent visitor to a shrine in Pathankot and was carjacked on his way back from there, the shrine's caretaker Somraj had said that he had met the officer for the first time on December 31.
The NIA believes there are inconsistencies in his statement on his visit to the shrine in Taloor village and the time he took to return.
This is the the SP's statement that has raised doubts.
The meeting in Islamabad, which was also attended by army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI chief Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, reiterated Pakistan's commitment to cooperate with India to "completely eradicate' terrorism, reports Reuters.
The Pathankot attack had figured in another meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his top aides on Thursday but the issue was overshadowed by the Saudi Arabian foreign minister's visit to seek Pakistan's support in the ongoing diplomatic row with Iran.
The commitment to cooperate with India in tackling terrorism, made in a statement issued by Sharif's office, appeared to be aimed at ensuring that a planned meeting of the foreign secretaries on January 15 is not put off because of the attack on the Pathankot airbase, blamed on the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.
The statement contained several assurances that appeared to be aimed at assuaging India, which on Thursday linked the talks between the foreign secretaries to "prompt and decisive action" by Pakistan against the perpetrators of the attack.
"In line with Pakistan's commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the meeting reviewed the progress made on the information provided by the government of India,' the statement said, without giving details of what progress had been made.
"The meeting expressed the confidence that building on the goodwill generated by the recent high level contacts, the two countries would remain committed to a sustained, meaningful and comprehensive dialogue process,' it said.
The statement reiterated Pakistan's 2004 commitment about not allowing its soil to be used for terrorism directed at India.
Besides the army and ISI chiefs, the meeting was also attended by interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz, national security adviser Nasser Janjua, foreign secretary Aizaz Chaudhry and the director general of military operations.India's demand for action against the JeM had also figured at a meeting of corps commanders chaired by army chief Gen Sharif on Wednesday, sources said.
Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries, said today that West Bengal is one of the top Indian states on the 'ease of doing business matrix today'. He was speaking at the Bengal global business summit in Kolkata. I have no doubt in recommending West Bengal as a top investment destination to my friends in India and overseas based in Reliance's own first hand experience in terms of ease of doing business in the state," said Ambani in the presence of a beaming West Bengal CM.
According to him, Reliance had become one of the top employers in West Bengal with some 11,000 direct employees and over 30,000 indirect staffers, largely due to the ease of doing business in the state and 'culture of fast track clearances'.
This comes on the heels of a 25-hour gun-battle between security forces and terrorists outside the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif on Monday night. All the terrorists were killed in the fierce gun battle.
The Ansals escaped being jailed in the 18-year-old gruesome Uphaar Cinema fire tragedy with the Supreme Court asking them to pay a fine of Rs 30 crore each and restricting their jail term to the period already undergone by them.
While Sushil, 76, had spent over five months in prison, 67-year-old Gopal was in jail for over four months immediately after the tragedy.
The bench rejected the submissions of senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for CBI, that the convicts be sent to jail to serve the remaining jail term. "My instruction from CBI is to press for their custody," Salve said, when the court sought his views.
Senior advocate KTS Tulsi, who represented the Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy, also said that the convicts not only be jailed, but rather their punishment should be enhanced.
The Supreme Court's verdict excusing the Ansals from bail has been challenged by the CBI, which investigated the case, as well as a group of those who lost their relatives in the fire.The organisation demanding justice to the families of the victims of the Uphaar tragedy is headed by Neelam Krishnamurthy, whose young children died at Uphaar; she has campaigned extensively for stiff punishment for the real estate moguls.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 2 per cent to close at 3,186.41 points, after falling as much as 2.2 per cent earlier. The smaller Shenzhen index gained 1.2 per cent to close at 10,888.91 points. The total turnover on the two bourses stood at 761.6 billion yuan (USD 116.03 billion), state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
A pair of moderate earthquakes shook northwest Oklahoma late Wednesday night, part of a swarm of Sooner State temblors that has produced more than two dozen quakes in less than 24 hours.
In October last year, at least 200 people were killed and more than 1,300 others injured as a powerful 7.5- magnitude earthquake -- the strongest in 10 years --rocked Pakistan, sending severe shock waves as far as Punjab and PoK.
Pic: A vehicle is damaged in Rafiabadin Distrct in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir in the October 2015 quake.
The Delhi government has told the HC today that particulate and nitrogen oxide load from cars have come down during odd-even programme by as much as 40 per cent and higher share of pollution benefits have come from reduction in diesel cars.
Maulana Anzar Shah was arrested in Bangalore by a team of Delhi Police's Special Cell on Wednesday following which he was brought to Delhi on transit remand and produced before a court yesterday which sent him to police custody till January 20, said a police official. In December, Delhi Police had arrested three suspected operatives of al-Qaeda module in the India sub-continent.
Informed sources say at the time, doctors treating the CM at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi were still trying to revive Sayeed and the life support system indicated he was alive.
Mufti Sahab was officially declared dead at 9:20 am.
The team of doctors treating the 79-year-old CM were taken aback to see a stream of VVIPs reaching AIIMS with wreaths when he was still alive.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh were told by a senior AIIMS doctor that Mufti Sahab was still alive.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah also visited the hospital thereafter.
Government sources say they were surprised to hear that the PDP had declared Mufti Sahab dead when he was responding to the life support system.
At 7:30, on Thursday morning, South Kashmir was abuzz with rumours that the CM had died, but nobody at AIIMS or the government were ready to confirm the death.
At 9:10 am, AIIMS issued a statement saying Mufti Sahab's condition was stable.
Just 10 minutes later, at 9:20 am, AIIMS held another media briefing and announced that Mufti Sahab had passed away.
Insiders in the Prime Minister's Office and home ministry say it was only after an Intelligence Bureau alert that Prime Minister Narendra Modi drove straight to Palam airport and not to AIIMS to pay his respects.
For those two hours, we can tell you that there was high drama tempered by confusion in Delhi with VVIPs, the media and the medical fraternity figuring out what reports to rely on.
The odd-even scheme was introduced on January 1 for a two-week period to cut smog in the world's most polluted capital. Cars with odd-numbered licence plates are allowed on the roads on odd-numbered dates, and those with even-numbered plates on the other days.
Stating that there were "practical difficulties' in implementation of the odd-even scheme currently being tested in the capital, the Delhi High Court had on Wednesday asked the Delhi government to consider if the policy should be restricted to an eight-day trial period instead of 15 days.
The AAP government has argued that 15 days are not enough; if needed the government may have to go beyond that. The Delhi government has said that pollution at peak hours has reduced in the capital.
The bench, comprising Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, also asked the government to file data on daily pollution levels in the capital from January 1-7, and get "comparative data' from December to see whether pollution levels have actually reduced because of the policy.
Ford Foundation was placed on the 'prior permission' list in April last year after the home ministry reportedly found that it was funding non-FCRA registered and profit-making NGOs. Both the acts are illegal under FCRA.
A police constable was shot dead by armed miscreants in the Mahishadal area of East Midnapore district on Thursday night, the police said. Two constables and an Assistant Sub-Inspector were on regular night patrol duty and were checking on some illegal lodges in the Kapas area of Mahishadal after getting a tip-off that some miscreants were hiding in one of the lodges, district Superintendent of Police Alok Rajoria told PTI.
As the team approached a bridge near Kapas, they saw a group roaming near a lodge and stopped them, the SP said.
While questioning, two of the miscreants suddenly ran off, Rajoria said adding, constable Nabakumar Hait(45) managed to intercept the third miscreant.
In the commotion, the fourth miscreant opened fire, which hit the constable near his ear. The gang then fled the spot hurling a couple of bombs, the SP said.
Hait was rushed to Tamluk hospital where he was declared dead on arrival, he said.
Senior police officers have reached the spot and a combing operation was underway to trace the whereabouts of the miscreants, Rajoria added.
"We are moving towards freedom of children and I am going to see the end of child slavery in my lifetime. 35 years are not too many years in the history of human kind and 35 years ago this was a non-issue in my country as well as world over," Satyarthi said.
"People thought that slavery has been abolished completely and now people have started accepting that children are being enslaved and we have to find an end to it," he said.
The 2014 Nobel Peace Laureate first book in Hindi "Azad Bachpan Ki Aur" in New Delhi late last evening by Justice Dipak Misra, Judge, Supreme Court of India.
The book is a selection of articles penned by Satyarthi on landmark movements, judgments, events and prominent policy intervention in his three decade long struggle for child rights. These writings chronicle the fight to end violence against children and provide a historical perspective to the efforts.
A forecasting circular issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has altered in subtle ways the definitions of cold and heat waves (see chart), introducing uniform cut-offs for locations across the country, and prescribed revised terminology to classify abnormal all-India rainfall.
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He was among 30 children, all from poor families, rescued on December 29 after police raided two homes run by the Emmanuel Seva Group in Greater Noida and Meerut.
The child, who along with his younger sister and brother had been confined to the home for three years, said their stay was like a "jail term' during which his name was also changed.
"I was allowed to meet my parents once a month for only 15 minutes. The only thing I was taught was the Bible. They forced me to memorise its passages,' the boy told HT on Thursday and added that the children were forced to consume buffalo meat and "paraded' before potential donors.
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The Finance Minister is the keynote speaker at the Kolkata event, while Kejriwal will speak later.
In fact, the two leaders had attended a dinner with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee yesterday.
This is the first time they are sharing stage in public since Jaitley filed a criminal defamation case against Kejriwal and five other AAP leaders over their allegations that he had presided over large-scale corruption in the Delhi's cricket body, the DDCA, during his 13-year-stint as the organisation's chief.
Other speakers at the Kolkata summit include Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu and Piyush Goyal.
Pic: Mamata Banerjee places a stole around Arun Jaitley while Arvind Kejriwal coughs on.
The Sensex resumed higher at 24,969.02 and hovered between 25,083.55 and 24,887.22 and was trading at 24,923.57, showing a gain of 71.74 points over its previous close
Gayle was fined $10,000 by his BBL side Melbourne Renegades for his on-air mid-match comments to McLaughlin on Monday night.
The big-hitting West Indian batsman's hopes of returning next season could also be all but over, given Cricket Australia has the power to essentially veto any BBL player contract. Read more
"In an ideal world, the political imperative for growth would not outstrip an economy's potential. In the real world, where social-security commitments, over-indebtedness, and poverty will not disappear, we need ways to achieve sustainable growth.
"Above all, we need to avoid beggar-thy-neighbour policies, such as unconventional monetary policy or sustained exchange-rate intervention, that primarily induce capital outflows and competitive currency devaluations," he said in an article in 'Project Syndicate'.
Delhi lieutenant-governor Najeeb Jung is learned to have recommended to the Centre that the commission of inquiry appointed by the Arvind Kejriwal government under Gopal Subramaniam to probe alleged irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association be set aside as it was illegal.
Jung, in a communication to the home ministry last month argued that the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952 empowers only the Centre and state governments to appoint a commission of inquiry. Delhi being a Union Territory short of full statehood, a commission of inquiry may be ordered only with the concurrence of the Centre, through the LG, he said.
Kejriwal however said the Commission of Inquiry ordered by his government will probe alleged irregularities in DDCA even if it is struck down by the Centre.
He is credited with bringing a whiff of fresh air (and how!) into the Ministry's External Publicity division during his three-and-half year tenure as the spokesperson. He had also brought an effective mix of social and digital media into the External Publicity division.
Wiping away tears as he spoke of children killed in Connecticut in 2012, Obama unveiled a series of executive actions on guns, including expanding mandatory background checks for some private sales.
Obama said he visited Newtown two days after what happened. "It was still very raw. It's the only time I've ever seen Secret Service cry on duty. It wasn't just the parents. You had siblings, 10-year-olds, eight-year- olds, three-year-olds who in some cases didn't even understand that their brother or sister weren't going to be coming home,' he said.
Obama said that he's never owned a gun but said that doesn't mean he he's spearheading a 'conspiracy' to take away other Americans' constitutional right to purchase firearms. "I have never owned a gun," Obama said.
"I grew up mostly in Hawaii, and other than hunting for wild pig, which they do once in a while there's not the popularity of hunting and sportsmanship with guns as much as there are in other parts of the country," he said.